Documentary Research Post (Henri Cartier Bresson)

  Henri Cariter Bresson was a French documentary photographer. He first discovered his passion for photography when he saw a image taken by Martin Munkacsi in the arts magazine Arts et Metiers Graphiques. He then started to look further into photography and travels across Europe with his two friends, continuing to take photographs. Bresson suggested the idea about 'the decisive moment'.

The decisive moment refers to capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself. 

    
  This image presents the decisive moment in action. Henri Cariter Bresson took this image right as the birds flew away from the steps. He took the image at the precise moment and if he were to take it any later or earlier, the birds may have already flown away or not even flown yet. He has also captured the moment before the women probably moved (due to the birds near her flying away).






                                                                                     This image was taken in Greece, Cyclades, Island of Sifhnos in 1961. Henri Cartier Bresson had taken this photograph while the girl was running up the stairs. Her body shape tells us that she is in the middle of running. The style of the buildings present the style of old Greece. The building are not modern or up to date (as we can tell by the arrangement of the staircase and how the door frames are not particularly straight). This image is a good representative of the decisive moment and how the photographer had to think carefully about the precise moment to take the picture. If he had taken the image a few seconds later, the girl would not be visible. This would make the image less about documentary photography and less intriguing to look at. I like this image because although we can only see a singular person in the image, there could have possibly been several others running up the stairs also. Therefore, the photographer had taken timing very seriously. In conclusion, timing is very important when documenting an event. I also like how there is a clear distinction between the light and dark tones. The child is far away and is a area of shade is casted over them which makes the outline of the body and the action they are showing more vivid.